Women’s basketball ranks No. 25 in NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll
The women’s basketball team opens up the 2020-2021 season at No. 25 in the NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, which was announced by the national office last Wednesday. The NAIA ushers in a new era of women’s basketball with one combined division. In previous years, the NAIA divided teams into two divisions, and the Saints were listed in Division I.
OLLU is the only nationally ranked team from the Red River Athletic Conference. Top conference vote-getter Saints are followed by LSU-Shreveport, LSU-Alexandria, Wiley College and Huston-Tillotson University.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, Association of Independent Institutions and Unaffiliated Groups.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
- Teams that receive only one point on the ballot are not considered “receiving votes.”
- The Saints ended their season in 2020 as the No. 13-ranked team. They have made every Top 25 Poll since 2012-2013. Their highest ranking was No. 1 (six consecutive weeks) in the 2015-2016 season.
- The Saints finished 2020 as the No. 1 team in scoring offense per game (100.844), scoring margin (29.00), turnover margin (11.688), field goal percentage (.469), free throw percentage (.802) and total scoring offense (3227).
- The Saints return Dezeree White (JR/Houston, Texas), who ended last year as 10th in the nation in steals per game (3.031). Other returners include Keviona Barber, Angeline Sanchez, Alexandra Strawhorn, Zerina Shatri, Emiko Hemphill, Natalia Trevino and Tiffany Lopez.
- On their way to the national tournament in March 2020 when the season got canceled, the Saints were the No. 4 seed.
| RANK | LAST YEAR | SCHOOL [FIRST PLACE VOTES] | 2019-20 RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 (I) | Westmont (Calif.) [17] | 27-3 | 586 |
| 2 | 2 (I) | Wayland Baptist (Texas) [4] | 31-2 | 563 |
| 3 | 2 (II) | Marian (Ind.) | 31-3 | 545 |
| 4 | 4 (I) | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 29-3 | 534 |
| 5 | 5 (I) | The Master’s (Calif.) | 29-3 | 529 |
| 6 | 3 (I) | Oklahoma City | 30-2 | 486 |
| 7 | 3 (II) | Southeastern (Fla.) | 27-3 | 464 |
| 8 | 12 (II) | Dordt (Iowa) | 24-8 | 438 |
| 9 | 8 (I) | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 29-4 | 437 |
| 10 | 9 (I) | Vanguard (Calif.) | 23-6 | 416 |
| 11 | 1 (II) | Concordia (Neb.) | 32-2 | 413 |
| 12 | 5 (II) | College of the Ozarks (Mo.) | 29-4 | 343 |
| 13 | 20 (I) | Clarke (Iowa) | 25-7 | 327 |
| 14 | 6 (I) | Bethel (Tenn.) | 29-4 | 302 |
| 14 | 21 (I) | Thomas More (Ky.) | 22-10 | 302 |
| 16 | 8 (II) | St. Francis (Ill.) | 29-5 | 276 |
| 17 | 6 (I) | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 31-2 | 274 |
| 18 | 11 (I) | Lyon (Ark.) | 29-3 | 268 |
| 19 | 10 (I) | Talladega (Ala.) | 28-5 | 247 |
| 20 | 17 (I) | Carroll (Mont.) | 21-10 | 198 |
| 21 | 15 (I) | Columbia (Mo.) | 25-7 | 179 |
| 22 | 6 (II) | Indiana Tech | 30-4 | 155 |
| 23 | 9 (II) | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 29-5 | 154 |
| 24 | 10 (II) | Morningside (Iowa) | 23-10 | 146 |
| 25 | 13 (I) | Our Lady of the Lake | 26-6 | 144 |
Receiving Votes: Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 122, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 102, Indiana Wesleyan 98, Bryan (Tenn.) 73, Loyola (La.) 71, Providence (Mont.) 50, WVU Tech (W.Va.) 42, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 27, Sterling (Kan.) 25, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 12, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 6, Union (Ky.) 4, Antelope Valley (Calif.) 3, Rust (Miss.) 3, Bushnell (Ore.) 3